The Devil's Best Friend
by rocketstar
Summary: 1953. Casey Cook was falling into the brink of despair until a man sat downside beside her and offered to buy her a drink. Casey never imagined that she'd meet the devil and like him, but there was something about Klaus. Enough so to let him turn her into a vampire and stick by his side for the next fifty six years, getting into trouble and falling in love with his brother...
1. Chapter 1

She sat alone at the far end of a smoky and somewhat crowded bar, very much keeping to herself and trying not to draw attention towards her as she slowly sipped her single malt scotch. Bored was the only way to accurately describe how Casey Cook was currently feeling despite being surrounded by countless people, who were drinking, smoking, laughing and having good time. People all around her were falling in love and yet all Casey could do was aimlessly stare ahead of her. Casey was bored and it wasn't just because of where she was, as her state of boredom was something of a constant thing. Casey was bored of 1953, she was bored of her life, people in general and everything else that came along with being alive during the fifties. No one seemed to understand her, everyone put Casey's boredom down to her having grown up during the Second World War and was still having a hard time readjusting, eight years after the war had ended. Casey wasn't messed up because of the war, sure it had been pretty intense growing up in London during the war before she had been evacuated. It hadn't been a picnic but Casey had dealt with it. Casey wasn't bored because she missed the excitement of the war, she was bored because everything in her life was so damn boring and she was stifled by it. There were so much expectations on her, everyone expected Casey to live a certain way and stick to some plan which she didn't want. Her life was trivial and worthless, she was expected to attend fancy parties, schmooze and rub shoulders with royalty, aristocrats and other wealthy families. From there she would no doubt meet some handsome and incredibly wealthy man who would sweep Casey off her feet and then would marry and live happily ever after having a few children. That was what was expected for girls of Casey's age and she wanted nothing to do with that. Casey wanted no part of it. She wanted to have her own life, be free of the constrictions that were placed on women in this day and age. The idea of being a homemaker and someone's wife made Casey want to jump into the Thames. The life of a socialite was really not something that Casey was best suited for.

Draining the remains of her drink, Casey placed the glass back on the bar and couldn't help but sigh. She wasn't supposed to be here, she was supposed to be having dinner with her father Rupert and her god awful stepmother Gretchen plus whichever suitor her step mother sought fit to invite for dinner tonight. Casey had made it clear plenty of times that she had no intention of ever marrying but it always seemed to fall on deaf ears. The more she seemed to dismiss the prospect of her ever getting married, the harder her stepmother seemed to try to marry her off. It was all very tiresome but Casey was adamant that she was never going to be wed, to be dictated by some man who thought he knew better than her. Casey wanted more from her life than what others had planned for her. She wanted to know what it meant to truly live, Casey wanted to have adventures of her own, to run down the streets of Paris with the wind in her hair. Her father however refused to send Casey to Paris, in fears that his only daughter would fall in love with a foreigner and never return, despite Casey telling her father that such a thing would never happen as she wasn't one of those naive doe eyed girls who fell head over heels in love at a drop of a hat. But nobody ever listened to her anymore, all they took any notice of was her face and the fact that she wasn't married even at the age of 22. If only her stepmother could see her now, Gretchen would probably die or shock and utter some nonsense about Casey bringing disgrace to the family name. Catching the eye of the bartender, Casey motioned to him for a refill and as she did she noticed from the corner of her that a man came and took a seat on the stool next to her.

"Bartender I'll have the same as what the beautiful lady is having and put it on my tab."

"I appreciated the offer but the lady can buy her own drinks and will continue to do so. Thank you anyway." Casey politely replied with a small smile as she pulled out a crisp note from her purse and placed it on the bar. As she did Casey was very much aware that the stranger to the left of her was staring at her. At first Casey ignored him and took a slow and careful sip of her drink, keeping her eyes straight ahead at the drinks that were behind the bar as she had no interest in engaging this man in any kind of conversation as he was no doubt like every other man she had come across. However after five excruciatingly long minutes and finishing off another single malt, Casey turned to the man in hopes that if she entertained him for a few minutes then he would finally leave her alone. To Casey's surprise he wasn't what she was expecting. She had expected someone a little less clean cut and a man who oozed with sleaziness. But this was not the case, the man next to her was very well refined wearing a suit that given by how well to was made, could only have come from one of the tailors on Saville Row. He has short curly light brown hair and light blue eyes that seemed to have a little twinkle in them. The man was handsome, there was no doubt about that but not Casey's type. He looked just like the men who her stepmother tried to marry her off to, whereas Casey preferred men with flaws and less refinement as they were less likely to being looking for a wife and on a whole much more interesting from Casey's personal experiences. "Can I help you Sir or are you just going to spend the rest of the night staring at me? Because I'll tell you right now, that no matter how many drinks you offer to buy me, I will not be going home with you."

"Just wondering what on earth a woman who clearly can afford to be shopping in Dior is doing in such an establishment such as this one?" The man stated in a nonchalant but amused tone of voice and Casey found herself smiling as she glanced down at her Dior pumps as the man did have her there. For someone like Casey or rather Lady Cassandra Cook if you went by her full name and title, a somewhat sleazy bar in Clapham was the last place you'd find a girl who grew up coming and going from the ancestral home in Wiltshire to the house in Kensington. Women like Casey Cook did not spent their time in places like Clapham, which was part of the appeal for Casey. It was something different, a far cry from her life which she bored of. Casey came to places like this in order to try and feel some kind of excitement again. No luck yet, Casey still felt like she was living a mundane life which wasn't going anywhere.

"Looking for a bit of excitement for my inner hedonist, something that I can't find in Selfridges." Casey allowed herself to admit with a wry smile as being in a place so diverse like these, so unlike anything she was used to, made Casey feel slightly better. But Casey was starting to realise that no matter where was, she felt nothing except boredom. Going to different parts of London and mixing with all sorts of people from different background wasn't helping at all. Life was still boring for Casey, lacking in any real excitement. She knew all of this made her sound like some kind of spoilt brat, here she had everything she wanted in life; a father who loved her, a nice home, money and an occasional part time job working in a boutique that her godmother owned. Casey's life was pretty great on paper. But in reality it wasn't as great. "What about you? Most men here could only dream of owning a suit with a cut like yours. If I'm not corrected Andrew Hutchins made that suit."

"Very impressive."

"Not really, I've seen his work enough times to spot it a mile off." Casey replied with a small and weary laugh before taking another sip of her drink. She didn't want to say the reason why she knew who had made his suit was because her father had at least twenty suits made by the same tailor. She found bragging about wealth and status to be rather vulgar, not to mention she was currently trying to escape from her life for a few hours. "You haven't answered my question you know? About why someone like you is in a place like this. I told you why I was here so I think it's only fair that you tell me."

"Looking for stimulating conversation."

"Is that so? Now is this the part where you warn me that it's too dangerous for a girl like me to be in an establishment like this? That my soul will be corrupted by being in a place like this surrounded by people of loose morals who like to drink a conspicuous amount of alcohol?" Casey asked as the music that had been playing in the bar came to a stop much to the dismay of the patrons further up along the bar. There was a loud grumble from within the grounds, some boos flying across the room and moments later the music was back on and the natives seemed to be settling back down. The more time Casey spent in this place, the more she was starting to enjoy herself as there was no pressure on her to be the person who she was raised to be. No one was expecting her to conduct herself in the manner that reflected the wealth and status that came with being Lady Cassandra Cook, the youngest child and only daughter of Rupert Cook, the 7th Earl of a place where no one outside the walls of high society really cared about. Casey for the most part didn't as it wasn't like she could inherit her father's title, that would go straight to her brother along with all their lands. Here in this dark little drinking hole, Casey could just be Casey and to have some sense of freedom for once in her life.

"I don't think I need to do anything of the such, you seem to be handling yourself perfectly fine. Since we've been talking for a while, would I be able to get a name? I promise I have no other intention than knowing the name of my drinking companion."

"I probably shouldn't tell you this, I'm pretty sure my father once warned me about talking to strange men but my name is Cassandra. However I don't tend to like going by first name much as I don't think I suit it personally. My great grandmother who I was named after is probably turning in her grave over this but I much prefer to be addressed as Casey. Although not many people call me that as apparently it sounds very much like a name given to a boy whose parents didn't love him enough to give him a proper name, according to my stepmother." Casey stated in a polite manner, unable to quite believe that she was talking to this man. Let alone giving him such personal information like her name and the back story behind it but there was something about him. He had this roguish charm about him and like Casey, he looked like he didn't belong here.

"Pleasure is all mine Casey, I'm Niklaus."

"Niklaus? Interesting name." Casey couldn't help but point out as it wasn't a name that she had come across. She couldn't help but think that the man in front of her Niklaus didn't exactly look like a Niklaus. But then again who was she to talk about names? She herself didn't go by the name given to her at birth but she simply thought it didn't suit her. Some people unlike her, may actually like their names. It wasn't Casey's place to judge others on their names.

"However feel free to call me Klaus, I find it less stifling."

"Nice to meet you Klaus." Casey replied with a genuine smile.

"Tell me Casey, have you come across anyone here who is capable of having a somewhat decent and interesting conversation with? Other than yourself..." Klaus questioned and Casey couldn't help but laugh as her new friend was so asking the wrong person. As she couldn't remember the last time she had met someone who she had deemed interesting enough. Most people who Casey knew of or had met, were somewhat involved in her parents vast social circle. A lot of them were small minded people were rather vapid and obsessed with climbing the social ladder. There was only one person who had really made the world seem alive to Casey and that had been Freddie. But he was gone now and had been for a while and the world was just dull and colourless now.

"Depends on your definition of interesting but so far I've been propositioned twice and been proposed to a further three times. Not exactly what I would call interesting or stimulating but it's certainly memorable in a way. It's why I like to come out to places like here, it's different from my world and there's a small sense of freedom I get by sitting at a bar and drinking by myself. Until I receive unwanted attention from strange men who attempt to buy me drinks and strike up a friendship." Casey quipped in response before letting out a weary laugh as she glanced back at her empty glass. These days alcohol seemed to be her only real friend. She didn't have much in terms of friends these days, all the friends that Casey had growing up, all the girls she had gone to boarding school were no longer the girls that she had round around with and getting into trouble with. This fierce and funny girls were all a shadow of who they used to be, all of them were married and had been mere months after they had turned eighteen.

"Care to expand?" Klaus asked.

"Look at me and tell me what you see? No, let me do the honours... You see a pretty young woman, you could her define as being an English rose. Long honey blonde hair and rich brown eyes, tall and graceful. Born into a wealthy family and that's all people see me as, a pretty girl who is only useful for being married off and producing children for some entitled moron. People don't care about who I am inside and what I think, I am just seen as some sort of commodity but that's the society we live in. All the girls who I went to school with are all married now with small children and people look down at me because I don't want to conform to that. It's 1953 and yet this world and the expectations that we place on ourselves just bore me. This life is boring, there's no adventure or twist and turns just predictability. People work until they die, do the same job every day to pay the bills and feed the family. Life is not interesting, people grow up, get married, have kids then die. What is so interesting about that? Why does my life have to be defined by that? I have spent the last few years trying my hardest to stop my family from marrying me off to the most eligible bachelor who will bolster my family's reputation." Casey questioned as Klaus slid over another glass of scotch towards her which Casey willingly took.

"It doesn't have to be you know, you could always do something about it." Klaus stated and Casey laughed. That was a good one. For Casey, running away and changing her life to one she wanted wasn't as easy as one would think, Klaus didn't know who her father was and the reach that he had. Her were somewhat important in society and the Cook family had a well respected history and friends in very high places.

"I've tried. Believe me I have tried to change my circumstances but I can never escape, like about a year ago I packed my bags and ran away. I went to Brighton as I've always found it romantic in an odd way. I guess it's something about the beach and ice-cream I suppose. It took my father three days and about half of The Met to track me down and they pretty much had to bring me back kicking and screaming. It wasn't pretty. My father was so mad that he was awfully tempted to send me to Scotland to stay with some distant relatives but he didn't because he knew that was what I wanted." Casey grimly explained as there was no way that she could run away without no one caring given who her father was. Each time she had tried to leave, her father brought her back. No matter how hard she tried, Casey couldn't escape this life.

"Maybe you didn't go far enough, you know there is a vast world outside this four worlds and this island we're on. You shouldn't confine yourself to such a small place when there is a whole world to be explored Cassandra. I've seen things that you would never have imagined in your wildest dreams, I've travelled the world and the stories I could tell you. Trust me there is much more to see but to do that you're going to have to leave England. There is a world that is waiting for you to embrace it Casey. You seem to be a bit of a star Casey, you radiate this light but you would be so much capable of shining brighter if you have the courage to follow your own path. Stars shine the brightest in the dark." Klaus said in a warm manner which Casey was surprise by. Her first impression of Klaus had been so wrong, he wasn't like most men. There seemed to be no motive as to what he was doing, he just seemed to want to have a conversation. But the thing that Casey picked up the most was that Klaus wasn't just saying random stuff in order to feign interest in her. There was this genuine interest that Klaus had and Casey believed what he was telling her about how he had seen the world – he seemed quite well travelled.

"Trust me I am well aware of that Klaus and there is nothing more that I would want. I don't want what everyone else wants, I don't want to be like those girls who I went to school with who put their dreams on hold to conform to society and their expectations. I want to live a life that is exciting and fresh, one that doesn't confine me to social standards. As much as I love England, I don't want to be stuck here for the rest of my life. I want to leave and see the world but my father will never allow that, every time I try to leave he always drags me back. He means well, I know my father does but he doesn't understand that I don't want to be a mother or wife as selfish as it sounds-"

"-I assure you Casey it's not, in fact it's rather refreshing to hear someone of your age and generation speaking so refreshingly about your wants and desires. It's not selfish to a want a life that makes you happy. A life in which you are free to so whatever you want. Trust me when I say it is to die for." Klaus stated and Casey couldn't help but smile as she never met someone who had shared her way of thinking until now. A chance encounter in a bar in Clapham.

"My age? You barely look much older than myself Klaus." Casey couldn't help but note as the way Klaus had been taking about himself, he made it seem like he was much older than her. But that was impossible as Klaus looked round about the same age as her brother Spencer.

"Appearances can be quite deceiving Cassandra and things are not what they always seemed to be. What if I told something incredibly? Something that you would have never believed in a thousand years? What would you say if I told you that the reason I look so young is because I am a vampire? One of the oldest and powerful vampires in existence. They call me an Original Vampire as I am one of the first vampires in existence. This face is over a thousand years old." Klaus announced and Casey couldn't help bit scoff in amusement as she took a large gulp of her drink. That was funny. It was a good one. But it was insane as vampires didn't exist in reality. They belonged in books and movies. There was nothing real about them in the slightest.

"I would say that you've had too much to drink but I'll admit that's a new one, not any of the men who I've encountered tonight have come up with something like that. It's real imaginative I'll give you that. " Casey retorted

"A sceptic I see… I can't blame you but hear me out Casey. What if I could prove it? Prove to you that I am a vampire and then make you a very interesting and life changing offer? One that would mean that you would never have to worry about getting married or conforming to what society wants you to be ever again. You'll be able to do whatever you want, go wherever you want whenever you want and never have to worry about anything again. You could become the person you have always wanted to be, the person you dream of being. We wouldn't have to go anywhere, you could stay right in your seat and I'll prove to you that I am everything I've said I am." Klaus retorted in a challenging manner and Casey couldn't help but be intrigued by Klaus, by his offer and the mischievous twinkle in his eye. It sounded insane but there was this challenging tone in his voice and Casey was always one for a challenge.

Casey found herself no longer being bored.


	2. Chapter 2

_Casey couldn't help but tilt her head in amusement as she watched the man sitting across from her take a sip of his glass of champagne, the man who introduced himself to her as Klaus and announced that he was a vampire in the middle of a crowded bar in Clapham. Fourteen hours ago Casey believed that she as sitting next to a man who was trying to proposition her and now she was sitting across from him in the Ritz having breakfast with a vampire. An original vampire nonetheless. Klaus had kept to his word about proving that he was a vampire and then some, he had shown Casey that there was much more to the world than she could even imagine and he had offered to make it her reality. Klaus had offered her a chance to walk away from her current life, a life that she was bored of and felt constrained by societies expectations and start a new life where she could be free to do whatever she wanted and live the life that Casey wanted to live. Naturally inquisitive Casey had wanted to know more and she had ended up spending the night talking with Klaus, finding out everything she could about his life as a vampire who was close to a 1000 years old yet he looked only a few years older than her. Casey's mundane life had seemingly taken a very interesting turn, so much so that she invited the vampire Klaus for lunch at the Ritz. Klaus was unlike the vampires that Casey had read about in books, he seemed to cast away all the stereotypes that were commonly associated with vampires. There seemed to be this entire world that Casey knew nothing about until now, Klaus was offering to let her become part of his world; he was offering to turn her into a vampire. Casey hadn't been expecting such an offer and she had to admit that it was rather tempting, by the stories that Klaus has been telling her all night he lived a live free of responsibilities. He had no need to worry about social status, finding a wife who came from a family with money. His life was his own to control and that's what he seemed to be doing. Casey was very much impressed by Klaus, he was cool, collected and very much charming with very little effort._

_"What's so amusing Casey?" Klaus asked as he finally noticed the smile on Casey's face which had been carefully hidden behind her cup of tea that was resting just by her lips. This whole thing was so surreal but Casey had never felt more alive before today. Looking across the table, Casey was still in some disbelief over Klaus. Sure he had proved that he was a vampire but Casey was amazed that Klaus was as old as he said he was. You would never tell as Klaus dressed the right way, spoke the right and behaved like an English gentleman with a somewhat dark sense of humour._

_"I've had tea with countless people over the years even with royalty but I have never had lunch at the Ritz with a vampire." Casey couldn't help but explain with a small smile as she glanced around the room. The people all around them were seemingly unaware that they were in the company of one of the eldest vampires in existence. It was a surreal experience. Casey was definitely never going to forget this experience, it would be something that she would remember for the rest of her life. 1953 was definitely going to be a year that Casey wouldn't forget._

_"I'd get used to it if I were you Casey, if you are going to be a vampire after all." Klaus stated and Casey couldn't help but feel her cheeks start to burn. As even though Klaus had offered to turn her into a vampire, to give Casey the opportunity to live a life she wanted. Casey hadn't accepted it yet as although the offer was tempting, it did however require her to give up this life. The people who mattered to her most such as her father and brother. Casey couldn't make this decision on a whim._

_"I haven't agreed to anything yet Klaus." Casey couldn't help but point out before taking a sip of her tea._

_"Yes you have otherwise you wouldn't be here Cassandra." Klaus retorted and Casey felt a small tug at the corner of her mouth. Klaus was a quick one, she'd give him that. Casey was fast learning that there was more to Klaus then what met the eye. No doubt Klaus was not the kind of company that her stepmother would want to bring home. Casey was enjoying this whole experience with every passing moment, never before had she felt so amused and entertained by her life. It was funny how it only took one person to shake everything up._

_"Lady Cassandra Cook! We thought that was you, no one else has hair that thick and freckles so perfectly placed!"_

_At the sound of her full name practically being barked across the dining room of the The Ritz, Casey couldn't help but frown as she would recognise that foghorn voice anywhere. It was Helena Ferris, a fearfully loud and pretty much boring woman who Casey had gone to boarding school with. Casey saw that Helena wasn't alone, she was with Beatrice Moyer, a frightfully beautiful girl with little more to offer besides being one of the biggest gossips Casey knew. They really were the last people that Casey wanted to see at this current time. Their families were well acquainted with Casey's family and as such she was forced to put up with them on a daily basis in social situations. _

_"Friends of yours?" Klaus couldn't help but question as Casey watched as the aforementioned friends were continuing to make their way over._

_"Something like that..." Casey grimly murmured in response as she wouldn't exactly call Helena or Beatrice friends of hers before forcing a smile onto her face. "Helena! Beatrice! So good to see you again, it seems like it's been forever since we last saw each other."_

_"Indeed! I was just saying to Beatrice here that it's been forever since we were all together. I think the last time I saw you, it was at Emily Winthrop's wedding reception a year ago." Helena barked and Casey slowly nodded her head, as the quicker she engaged with the small talk, then hopefully the quicker this conversation would be over. It took Casey a moment to realise that Helena and Beatrice's beady little eyes were now very much focused on Klaus and clearly they were waiting for an introduction to be made, in the middle of The Ritz nonetheless!_

_"Oh forgive me! Klaus I'd like you to meet Helena Ferris and Beatrice Moyer, we all went to boarding school together... Helena and Beatrice this is Klaus, he's a... He's my friend." Casey began making the introductions, unfortunately for her she wasn't exactly sure how on earth she was supposed to introduce someone like Klaus. So Casey used the word friend to describe and used it so loosely that it was clear by the way Helena's eyes lit up that she had got the wrong end of the stick and assumed that the two of them were together. Which they were not._

_"Is that so? How wonderful! It's so fantastic that you finally found someone for yourself after that boy of yours... What was his name again Cassandra? It was something so common..." Beatrice questioned, gleefully ecstatic that she would have some gossip to pass around at the next party. Casey's jaw hardened instantly as a stroll down memory lane was not something that she really wanted to take part in. She did not enjoy talking about the dead much especially when it came to 'that boy' as people referred to him as._

_"Freddie." Casey allowed herself to admit after a moment before swapping her cup of tea for a long gulp of champagne. Casey just wanted the ground to swallow her whole in this moment. She couldn't believe that her supposed friends were bringing this up. Casey didn't want to talk about Freddie, she never wanted him to mentioned. It still hurt way too much for her to ever be comfortable to talk about him. Six months Freddie had been dead, yet it felt like a lifetime to Casey._

_"Yes that was it. Freddie, gosh you were terribly in over your head with him weren't you?" Helena stated and Casey just took another sip of her champagne. Thing were just going from bad to worse and everyone else seemed to be enjoying what was going on._

_"Cassandra in love? Is that so? I never would have guessed, I can't imagine her being over her head over someone..." Klaus slowly drawled and Casey glared at him as her new companion was clearly enjoying all of this. Whereas Casey would rather not, she knew she should have put a stop to all of this by now. But she couldn't, now when Freddie was mentioned. Even after all this time she still faltered when it came to him. She had loved him so much, she still did. He had been her first love. They had met when she was twenty and had met by chance encounter, Casey had gotten distracted and ended up walking to Freddie who was by all accounts a Ted. He was the most polite and well mannered Teddy's boy that Casey had ever come across. She fell in love. The rich girl fell in love with the poor boy. The rest was pretty much self explanatory. They managed to last two years before Freddie died. For the best is what everyone else said, Casey didn't understand. Well her head understood but her heart didn't. She loved Freddie or FTD as her brother Spencer called him, Fred the Ted._

_"Indeed! But if anyone was going to fall in love with a ted then it would be Cassandra!" Beatrice stated with a chuckle and Casey didn't even bat an eyelid as she was used to such vapid and ignorant comments like this. "I do believe that it was The Evening Standard who wrote that Cassandra Cook was the only girl in London who could wear Dior, quote Shakespeare off the top of her head on any occasion and talk to the Teds!"_

_"I'm not surprised, Cassandra is a woman of many talents. She never fails to surprise me." Klaus replied in a charming manner and offering Casey a smile who was trying her hardest to smile. Klaus was talking as if the two of them were old friends, when in fact they had known each other for just over 14 hours. Casey could only imagine Helena and Beatrice's reaction if they found out that information. It made her half tempted to tell them._

_"Well we should probably let you two lovebirds get back to your meal. It was nice to meet you Klaus and wonderful to see you again Cassandra! We mustn't leave it so long next time!" Helena quipped in a loud tone of voice before exiting the dining room in a loud manner with Beatrice following behind. Casey couldn't help but let out a sigh as those two girls were like a hurricane, came out of nowhere and destroyed everything in sight before moving on to it's next target._

_"A ted, really? Lady Cassandra Cook in love with a ted? I'll be damned."_

_"You see what I'm dealing with Klaus? It's hellish I tell you..."_

* * *

Bang bang. The sound of someone banging repeatedly on her apartment door woke up Casey from the semi deep slumber that she was in much to her dismay. Wearily glancing at her alarm clock on the bedside table, Casey read the time as being 10:27am. She had no idea who on earth was banging on her door at this hour but whoever they were could go away and leave her the hell alone. It was way too early for her to be having any kind of visitors in the slightest. Turning over in bed, Casey was fully prepared to go back to sleep but unfortunately for her the banging kept continuing and so with much reluctance Casey got up as whoever was at the door wasn't going to go away anytime soon so she was going to have to make them go away. After dragging herself out of bed, Casey walked out of her bedroom and made her way through her apartment until she reached the front door. Groggily opening the door, Casey was surprised yet not surprised to see Klaus standing on the other side of the door, with his trademark smirk on his face, a bouquet of flowers in his hand and flanked with his two witches Maddox and Greta. Casey should have been annoyed that Klaus had just turned up at her door, banging incredibly loud too early in the morning for her liking but surprisingly Casey wasn't annoyed as she knew that this was typical Klaus behaviour. He was the only person Casey knew that would turn up at her apartment this early in the morning, bagging on her door in such loud way, demanding to be let in. Despite the rather rude awakening, Casey was quite pleased to see Klaus, although she wasn't going to tell him this as that would make his ego much bigger then it already was. Although despite her fondness for Klaus, Casey hadn't still quite got used to Klaus dropping by whenever he felt like it despite the fact that she had known him for fifty six years, Klaus wasn't exactly the most predictable person.

He was a lot of things and even after all this time Casey still hadn't quite figured Klaus, he was like a paradigm wrapped in an oxymoron and then some. Klaus was not perfect, that much Casey knew. If she could describe Klaus, it would pretty much be the devil as he was ruthless and terrifying as much as he was charming but there was something about him that Casey liked. She enjoyed his company way too much as she was certain that she was slowly starting to lose her mind, the longer she hung out with Klaus but that's what made this whole immortality thing fun.

"Hello Casey." Klaus greeted with his usual charming demeanour, his face unchanged from that night back in 1953 when Casey met him in that bar in Clapham. That was the beauty of being immortal. You were frozen in your own skin, your face remaining unchanged despite the years constantly going forward. Casey should be dead, if she remained human she would have lived a mundane life until she died of old age. But here she was alive, technically 78 years old but in the body of a 22 years old living a life that was certainly extraordinary and anything but mundane with the prospect of continuing to life. It certainly beat Casey's old life of being a socialite who wasn't expected to do much except marry someone well off and pop out a few kids.

"Gosh you need a haircut! You look even more unruly than ever and you smell terrible so not only do you look like a mess, you smell worse than you look. Klaus you really need to start taking better care of yourself as you seemed to be falling apart." Casey dryly quipped in response as she opened the door further to allow Klaus and his minions in. As much as Casey wished that Klaus wouldn't show up to her apartment with his groupies, Casey knew he had his reasons. Klaus was paranoid, well that was an understatement as Klaus was one of the most paranoid people that Casey knew. He trusted few people accept those in his inner circle and Casey was one of those lucky few. Sometimes she wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or not.

"It's good to see you too Cassandra." Klaus retorted as he handed over the flowers and Casey couldn't help grin as by now Klaus knew better to expect a proper greeting when he turned up unannounced after three months and waking her up by noisily banging on the door. If Casey mentioned this, Klaus would make some snide comment about he wouldn't have to make so much noise of Casey just gave him a key. But Casey knew better than that, Klaus was one of the nosiest people she had ever come across. "We need to talk Casey..."

"Of course we do but you know the rules Klaus, your monkeys have to stay here in the living room whilst we go and talk…" Casey responded glancing over at the two witches, passing the bouquet of tulips to Maddox before walking off back in the direction of her bedroom, taking note of Klaus' footsteps behind her. The walk was very much in silence and once Casey arrived back to her bedroom she climbed back into her wrought iron bed and got herself comfortable before turning her attention over to Klaus who always looked so out of place in Casey's all white apartment. He was a stark contrast. Klaus was dark, he had a pretty dark side which was something else entirely. He was volatile, quick to temper and prone to lashing out and he was someone who you didn't want to anger or get in his way. Casey had seen that first hand over the years. It should have scared her away but it didn't. When Klaus had turned her all those decades ago, he had taught Casey not to be ashamed of who she was and what she wanted. Klaus was still the charmingly and roguish man she had met that night in the bar but he was complicated just like her. Klaus was the devil in some ways and Casey enjoyed his company. Klaus made life interesting even it wasn't in the most conventional ways. Since that night Casey had met Klaus in that bar her life had never been the same.

"Sometimes I wonder why I turned you into a vampire Casey as you seem to spend am awful amount of time in bed despite the fact that you technically don't need to sleep."

"You turned me Klaus because you found me to be a rather delightful and intriguing company. The fact I so willingly agreed and was English aristocracy helped..." Casey idly explained as Klaus came over and laid on top of the covers. Casey couldn't help but note that Klaus looked tired, no doubt he was pushing himself when it come to this damn curse that he wanted to break so much. Casey didn't know the specific details but she knew that Klaus had come close to breaking it five hundred years ago and then everything went wrong. It was something to do with a doppelgänger and now Klaus was obsessed with finding this Katerina Petrova and making her pay. Not by killing her as Casey had learnt that Klaus didn't believe in killing when it came to making people suffer. That was too good for them. It was Klaus' little traits as Casey referred to them as, the unstable parts of his personality.

"Indeed."

"Now what's with the visit? Not that I'm not pleased to see you but normally you don't bring the stooges with you unless it's something important and you brought me flowers, you don't usually buy me gifts unless it's something of the upmost importance and you need to butter me up. I do hope it's not another vampire hunter wanting us dead because after what happened last time, it's a bit too soon for my liking to have another hunter wanting our heads on a pike. I'm pretty sure that it's impossible for us to return to Michigan in this lifetime..." Casey idly stated recounting a time when the two of them had been on the run from a pair of vampire hunters about twenty years ago. Pretty nasty ones who were adamant about killing them both.

"It's not that, I need your help with something Cassandra. There is a town called Mystic Falls and I need you to go there."

"Niklaus may I remind you yet again that I am your friend, your only friend in fact and not one of your minions. I don't work for you and we both know that despite me having to remind you constantly." Casey retorted using Klaus' first name in full to remind him on the boundaries in which they had in place. Casey wasn't one the vampires who served him. She wasn't wax lyrical about him being an original, just because Klaus was an original it didn't mean that Casey was going to blindly serve him like he was some kind of king. Casey was more anarchy then monarchy these days. She was Klaus' friend and that was it. Sure she tagged along with him over the years but she didn't do orders. They had been friends when Klaus had turned Casey and things had stayed that way. Casey likes to think of herself as the person who could get Klaus to lighten up and relax when he was in that dark and creepy place when he was majorly obsessing with this curse of his.

"Casey..." Klaus began with a look on his face that Casey couldn't decipher.

"Why me? You have dozens of vampires at your finger tips and willing to do whatever you want. I'm sure any of them would be willing to help you out and they would do it without any smart ass response or back chat. Plus you don't need to butter them up to get them to do your bidding, all you have to do is say jump and they ask how high. Your stooges are a lot less high maintenance than I am. Most of them didn't grow up as Lady Cassandra Cook and having this overblow sense of entitlement."

"I need someone I can trust to do this, please Casey. It's to do with the doppelgänger." Klaus softly said and Casey wasn't expecting that. Klaus saying please, that it as the doppelgänger was also a bit of a surprise. But mostly the please part as Klaus didn't tend to use the word much, unless he was trying to charm something or telling someone that it was not in their best interest to annoy them. Casey looked over at Klaus and into his blue eyes, these last fifty years he had kept his word and showed Casey everything that he promised he would. Things that she never would have dreamed were possible and giving her the freedom she had always dreamed of. Although it had taken sometime to adjust to being a vampire and the whole blood drinking thing. Klaus had never asked her to do something like this before and they both knew that she owed him which is why she was going to say yes.

"Fine. I'll go to this town but I am not killing or maiming anyone and I am most certainly not getting killed in the process doing whatever it is you need me to do. I've died once already and I've planned on not letting it happen again."

"Cassandra Cook, have I ever told you that you are the best friend a man or vampire could ever have?" Klaus questioned with a huge self assured smirk on his face, no doubt pleased that things were yet again going his way.

"No but I figured that it was a given since I am your only friend."


	3. Chapter 3

_Casey sighed as she stubbed out her cigarette, it was a dirty habit that she had picked up back when she was seventeen and four years later at the age of twenty one she hadn't been able to quit it. Casey didn't smoke that often but already she had just finished her second cigarette as she sat in the back of a small café on Tottenham Court Road, very much minding her own business as the other people in the café went about their business. The waiting was very much getting to her and Casey had the urge to light up another cigarette but she knew better as her stepmother would kill her if she came home smelling like a chimney. Casey had been sitting here in this café for close to ten minutes and she couldn't help but glance briefly at her watch. He was running late… That was nothing new as he never really been good with time so Casey wasn't particularly worried, she was more anxious than anything as it had been weeks since she had last seen him and much to her amusement she found herself missing him. Well that was pretty much an understatement as rather her heart was aching for Freddie. It had been two years since that boy had came into her life, crept under her skin and naturally Casey hadn't liked it one little bit. He was cocky, arrogant and yet he was the politest Teddy Boy she had ever come across with the cleanest of skin and had managed to make her fall in love with him. _

_They had met just over two years ago when Casey was newly turned nineteen and Freddie was twenty one, since then life had never really been the same for Casey. Life seemed to get more interesting with Freddie around and when she was with him Casey no longer felt stifled by her stuffy life. Casey thought she would lose interest in Freddie after a few weeks, whilst she had enjoyed his company she never thought anything serious of the two of them, at the time he was just a boy she hung out with who she knew her stepmother would never approve of. But the more time Casey spent with Freddie the more she seemed averse to parting company with him. So he came from a poor working class family, had little money and no title but Freddie Smith made her laugh, he took Casey seriously when he wasn't laughing at her. She loved him. Life was never boring when Freddie was around which is why Casey was so hesitant to let him go, as much as she loved him with all her heart, Casey knew that the two of them would never work out. They could never get married, not that neither of them wanted to ever get married. It was all so very complicated and Casey didn't like thinking about it much. When Casey was with Freddie she never thought of the future, she only thought of the present._

_As she idly sat waiting for Freddie, idly lost in her own thoughts Casey got the fright of her life when a kiss was pressed to her cheek which caused her to jump out of her skin every so slightly._

_"__Alright Casey!"_

_"__Freddie you scared me!" Casey squeaked as Freddie slid into the chair opposite to her, broadly grinning at the fact that he had succeeded in scaring her and Casey couldn't help but feel her cheeks starting to twinge pink. She just couldn't help herself when she was around Freddie, there was just something about him. He was very handsome with his strong chiseled features even with his nose that had been broken at least twice, raven hair that was styled in a typical duck's arse like all the other Teddy boys and deep blue eyes. He wasn't the most handsome boy that Casey has ever seen but he was certainly the most interesting boy that she had come across. So Freddie didn't have lands or titles but he did have acres of style and an affinity for magic tricks._

_"__Sorry love!"_

_"__It's okay..." Casey quietly replied as Freddie leaned forward and took her hands in his and from that moment Casey tuned out the noisy café that she was sitting in along with the rest of the world. In this moment she was in her only little bubble where the only people who mattered were her and Freddie. There were times when Casey was with Freddie where she could no longer see herself, no longer see the person she was or the person other people wanted her to be. She could only see Freddie. Right from the start Freddie had slipped under Casey's skin and stole her heart. For Casey time seemed to stand still when she was with Freddie. "How are things with you? How's work?"_

_"__Fine… Nothin' I want to bother you about."_

_"__You are never a bother to me." Casey assured Freddie with a small smile as their class difference was sometimes a bit of a bother, Freddie often thought that Casey didn't want to be bothered by his life. But Casey liked hearing about Freddie's life and his work as a mechanic, it was so much interesting than the life that Casey lived, Freddie had real life experience, he didn't spend his days wondering Selfridges or Harrods like Casey did wondering if this was all what life had to offer to her. Freddie was the only person who offered anything interesting to Casey's life, he was the one who showed up at Wellington Hall, Casey's family ancestral hall. Freddie had showed up with a bottle of cheap wine in his hand one weekend when Casey's family were out of town and the two of them raided most of the crates of champagne that her father had received as a gift but never drank. That weekend had been the best of Casey's life, she had never laughed so much in her life and that weekend she had given herself completely to Freddie._

_"__So… Is that stepmother still trying to get you married to that Snowdon fellow?" Freddie asked with a mischievous glint in his eyes and Casey couldn't help but dramatically sigh at the mention of marriage as it was something that Casey was not interested in the moment. However her stepmother on the other hand? Was trying her hardest to get Casey married off as soon as possible much to Freddie's amusement. Casey never understood why Freddie found it so funny but he did._

_"__Unfortunately and seems to be trying to convince my father with every passing day that I need to marry as soon as possible. So far he's been rather resistant to the idea but it's only a matter of time before she finally convinces him and I fear that day will soon come…" Casey wearily said with a small sigh._

_"__You know you'll eventually you'll get married to some fancy lord with a nice manor and loads of money, some guy who can give you more than I ever will be able to. But he'll never love you as much as I do Cassandra Cook. Whatever happens to us, I'll always think of you and the time we spent together as the happiest days of my life… I just wanted you to know that Casey." Freddie softly said and Casey could feel her eyes start to water as she knew they were on their way to saying goodbye to each. Time was running out for them both and in that moment Casey realized she had never loved Freddie anymore than she did right this second._

_"__Freddie, don't…" Casey hoarsely replied as she wasn't sure that her heart could take much of this, the tears were coming and Casey wasn't sure how much longer she could keep herself composed. Her heart was breaking in this moment._

_"__You're in my heart."_

_"__And you will always be in line."_

_Two hours later Casey and Freddie left the café and upon them exiting, Casey burst into tears, finally coming terms with the inevitable that she and Freddie were going to have to go their separate ways and the idea of a life without Freddie in it devastated Casey. She loved him with all her heart, she loved him to the point where she couldn't live without him. So she asked him to marry him, to run away with her so they could elope and be together._

* * *

_September 18th 1952. _Even after all the years that had passed by Casey could still remember that day in the café with Freddie, they had spent hours together, talking and laughing, so caught up with each. They were so young and so hopelessly in love with each other and they thought they had a lifetime with each other. But they didn't. That night the two of them had run off to Brighton and before they could get married, Casey's father had tracked her down with help from the police and had brought Casey back to London kicking and screaming before taking her to Rome. Just under three months did Casey spend in Rome before her father finally allowed Casey to come home and she remembered that day so clearly as she arranged to meet Freddie in secret at Hyde Park through some of the few friends that Casey had. Casey could remember that day so clearly as it would be the last time she would Freddie alive, to this day she could recall how strode towards her with so much confidence, with a smile that made Casey's knees go weak and before she could leap into his arms and tell him how much she missed him whilst they were apart, Freddie got down on one knee and proposed to her with a beautiful claddagh ring set with a ruby, he had saved up every penny for the last three months to buy it for her.

_"Cassandra Cook, I know I am not some prince or heir to some fancy pants title and estate. I know I'm a poor ted from east london and you can do so much better, you deserve better than me. But I love you Casey, I am irrevocably in love with you and I want us to have a family and grow old together. I'm not saying that it will be easy as I know you're accustomed to a certain lifestyle and I don't have that kind of money. I know your family don't approve of me and I'm asking you to give you to give up a lot but I am willing to work as hard as I can to provide for you. I know I don't deserve you but I would like to marry you, if you'll have me…" _

Pressing pause on her ipod, Casey couldn't help but sigh as she took out her headphones and tucked away her ipod in her jacket pocket. It probably wasn't a good idea for her to be listening to Guy Mitchell today, Casey tended to avoid dealing with things from back when she was still human and Guy Mitchell had been a popular singer back in 1950's. Freddie was a big fan and Casey could recall countless times of him putting on Guy's records, so sometimes when Casey missed him she would listen to Guy Mitchell in order to remember the good time. Casey tried not to reflect on her past, she had chosen to make a clean break after she had transitioned into a vampire. The only things that Casey had of Freddie anymore was Guy Mitchell and her engagement ring, it was the one thing she just couldn't part with. Generally Casey kept the ring on a chain around her neck but for the last few days, it had been back on her left ring finger. After all this time Casey still couldn't believe that Freddie had died three days after he had proposed to her, they had both been so happy and then Casey had hit rock bottom. She had risen so high only to fall further than she had ever been. Six months after her had died Casey had become a vampire. Wiping away a lone tear Casey forced herself to laugh, if Klaus could see her now he would never let her live this down, calling her a sentimental sap. To Klaus, love was the weakest emotion a person could feel, so Casey couldn't talk to her Klaus about this because it would just result in him giving her a very long and unwanted lecture about it was better to live with her emotions turned off. Casey had been on the receiving end of that lecture one too many times to want to ever hear it again.

But Casey couldn't keep her head stuck in the past as right now she had something else to do, something that her ever paranoid best friend Klaus had entrusted her with and that was the Petrova doppelgänger who seemed to be his elusive white Rabbit, who only made an appearance every couple of hundred years or something like that. Casey didn't really give it much thought as she was Klaus' friend, she wasn't one of his lackeys who was there to do his bidding, she stuck around for his company. Yet here Casey was, lurking in the shadows of those small town in Virginia called Mystic Falls watching a teenaged girl by the name of Elena Gilbert go about her life. Elena wasn't any girl but the Petrova doppelgänger that Klaus was searching for and Casey was keeping an eye on her as the last one managed to sneak past Klaus and get away from him, to which Klaus was still angry about. As she continued to watch the doppelgänger Casey became aware of footsteps coming towards her from behind and she slowly turned around and she couldn't help but smile at the tall and well dressed dark haired man in front of her. _Another friend for her to play with._

"Hello Elijah."

"Cassandra." Elijah replied in a polite and courteous manner, which was very typical of him, as he was the most well mannered and moral person that Casey knew. He also had a habit of calling Casey by her full first name, which used to bother her but Casey had long gotten over it, she was rather fond of Elijah to the point where he was one of the few people she allowed to call her Cassandra. After Casey had become a vampire, she had denounced her old name of Cassandra Cook and just went by Casey. The only people who knew of Casey's old life as Lady Cassandra Cook were Klaus and Elijah, which was the way that Casey wanted it to stay. The only thing she had kept of her old life was Freddie and her accent.

"It's been a while hasn't it? Four years I believe…" Casey idly said with a small smile and as she walked over to Elijah, who towered over her four inches and she leaned over and pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek. Casey liked Elijah in a very platonic way but she also liked playing with him, of course he never rose to any of her jabs or silly behaviour which made it even more fun for her. But he did have quite the dark sense of humour which made the occasional appearance.

"It's been two." Elijah promptly corrected and Casey paused momentarily before quietly laughing out loud, her memory was bloody awful. Casey took a note to stop drinking gin so early in the morning as clearly it was doing no good for her, although it wasn't going to kill her.

"Of course it is, forgive my rather bad memory but time really seems to fly when you're dead but I don't need to tell you that Elijah. After all you're one of the big bad originals, you're practically a dinosaur… " Casey quipped with amusement as she caught sight of Elijah eyeing her up in a weary manner, naturally it was a subtle manner as this was Elijah of course and he was a respectable person, even for a vampire. But as good as Elijah was, Casey was afraid that he wasn't as good as her.

"I see your wearing the ring again." Elijah pointed out as his eyes drifted down to Casey's claddagh ring and she couldn't help but bristle ever so slightly. Casey didn't know why she had reacted this way as she wasn't with Klaus, this was Elijah and he was open minded and very compassionate. A stark difference from Klaus but it didn't mean that Casey valued him any less, she may be the devil's best friend but she very much valued her odd friendship with Elijah. There was stuff that Casey could talk to Elijah about that she couldn't talk to Klaus about like Freddie. Elijah was the only one who Casey felt comfortable with talking to about the full extent of her relationship with Freddie and Elijah was sworn to secrecy and not once in the fifty years that Casey had Elijah broken her trust as he was a man of his word. Long ago he had promised not to say anything to anyone about Freddie and still to this day he hadn't.

"It's his birthday…" Casey softly admitted knowing full well that Elijah could hear her and feeling her emotions starting to get the best of her, Casey forced herself to laugh. "It's silly isn't it? He's been dead for 56 years and yet he still manages to get to me, even from beyond the grave… Still tugging with my heartstrings."

"It's not silly." Elijah replied after a while and Casey offered him a small smile.

"So… I was wondering when we would finally run into each other, Klaus mentioned that you were here in Mystic Falls and I have to admit Elijah that I have been looking forward to see you as you are a very warm welcome for sore eyes. Small towns and myself have never gone well with each other, I blame it on my time growing up in London during the war. Living in the countryside never really suited me, I got very restless and I guess that's stuck with me." Casey admitted with a small shrug of her shoulder.

"I must admit that I'm very much surprised to see you here in Mystic Falls Cassandra, if you don't mind me saying this town doesn't seem like the kind of place that you would spend your time." Elijah began and Casey murmured in agreement as Elijah was quite right about that. This was pretty much the last place on earth that Casey would have willingly chosen to go on a little break.

"Klaus asked me to come here." Casey interrupted although she suspected that Elijah had already ventured a guess that Klaus was the one to send her, as he was right. Casey would have never come to Mystic Falls, willingly for the most part. It was too quiet and too quaint for her liking, Casey much preferred noise and mayhem. The kind of things you would get from cities and not from some small town in the middle of nowhere, although Klaus had cryptically mentioned to her that Mystic Falls had a very fascinating history and it didn't include the Gilbert girl. The whole thing had made Casey all the more curious, although she would be much happier when she was finally allowed to leave this town and be able to get back to doing things that she enjoyed doing.

"He asked and you just came? That doesn't sound much like you…"

"Ah! You know me well Elijah and your correct, I don't normally run errands for Klaus as I am not one of his performing monkey 's that he insists on following him everywhere but this time was different. Klaus said please. Very unlike him I know but since it's very rare for Klaus to say please, I decided that I would do him this favour. Plus I wanted to see what was so important to him that he willingly came to me and said please without me prompting him. So here I am keeping an eye on his little golden goose." Casey replied with a small chuckle as she stood shoulder to shoulder with elder vampire.

"And just where is Klaus?" Elijah questioned.

"My life doesn't revolve around your brother Elijah although Klaus does like to think so and I allow him to think so just for the sake of his male pride. Klaus maybe the original vampire in our relationship but I'm the smart one with all the sass and so I let him think he's at the centre of my world for his ego. But where he is exactly? I don't know… You know what Klaus is like, he's paranoid beyond reason so you have to be careful of how you deal with him. I don't ask about his location, if Klaus wants to know where I am then he'll tell me and it works the same way. It's sort of a ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies kind of thing with us. Sure I don't know everything about Klaus but I know enough and that's fine for me, I told Klaus I didn't need to know everything and I guess why it's one of the reason he trusts me enough to tell me that the two of you are brother and that you made up this so-called curse of the sun and moon. I remember Klaus telling me that it was easy to place the blame on the Aztecs as they loved a good curse." Casey explained in her typical flippant manner, knowing full well that she was one of few people who could get away with talking to an original like that, let alone two. Klaus would rip a person's head off if they spoke to him the way that Casey did, it just reinforced what Casey know about her being the right hand woman of the devil himself. Other vampires even had a name for her, they called her 'The Duchess' Casey had no idea where it had come from but it didn't bother her in the slightest.

"How long does Klaus want you here in Mystic Falls?" Elijah asked and Casey casually shrugged her shoulders as there were something's that she needed to keep to herself. Keeping an eye on the doppelgänger was a top priority for Klaus and the less Elijah knew about what Casey was doing the easier her job would be as according to Klaus, Elijah had some rather unresolved feelings for the previous doppelgangers and since the Petrova doppelgangers all looked the same, the Gilbert girl was a dead ringer for Elijah's apparent ex lady love. Besides Casey was doing this as a favor to Klaus and it would be quicker if she did this alone.

"Worried that Mystic Falls isn't big enough for the two of us, eh? I must say this town seems to have it all with doppelgangers, witches, vampires and I hear werewolves are lurking around. It's all very intriguing and Klaus will be happy with what I have to tell him. You never know he might be so happy that he'll come to Mystic Falls and here's hoping he will have a gift for me as well. But now I'm afraid I must take my leave as I need to have a chat with two vampires, you may know them… The Salvatore's? Got to have a chat with them about a doppelgänger…" Casey quipped with a small smirk

"We've met… Are you sure that that's a good idea Casey? They are after all older than you and they are a bit touchy about the girl." Elijah warned and Casey's couldn't help but beam as she placed a reassuring hand on Elijah's shoulder. It was nice that he was concerned for her safety but Casey was a big girl and even though the Salvatore's were older and probably much stronger than her, Casey wasn't afraid. She's take brain over brawns any day.

"You know me Elijah, I'm a wild card who flies by the seat of her pants."


	4. Chapter 4

_The Salvatore Boarding House. _Casey looked up at the house that was right in front of her and she couldn't help but frown, it was no Wellington house but upon noticing her own snobbery, she would admit that the house was rather nice for one in a small town in Virginia. In fact it was one of the very few houses in Mystic Falls that didn't have a minivan parked out right in front of the house. Mystic Falls seemed to be your typical small town from the outside with soccer moms, PTA meetings and bake sales but not everything was what it seemed. This town was quite the supernatural enigma and Casey was quite curious about this small little town but that would have to wait as now it was time to get down to business. Klaus needed Casey to do this and she was going to make sure that she got the job done well, her errant best friend needed her to have a conversation with the Salvatore brothers about this whole doppelgänger situation and make sure that they understood what was going to happen. Five hundred years ago Klaus had been so close to breaking this curse only to be thwarted at the last minute by the previous doppelganger becoming a vampire, Casey was pretty certain that Klaus had sent her to Mystic Falls as one of many provisions to make sure that history didn't repeat itself. Klaus wasn't going to take any chances, that much Casey knew. The big bad original pretty much had spies everyone, people and vampires alike willing to do whatever he asked at a drop of a hat and already Casey had a small dossier of information on this town, the recent influx of animal attacks that were no doubt vampire attacks and of course information on the two Salvatore brothers. Damon and Stefan Salvatore, both were natives of Mystic Falls and apparently Stefan had a bit of history with Klaus, although when Casey pressed Klaus for information he wouldn't divulge anything, only that it was way before her time and that Stefan was rather infamous in vampire circles.

But Casey wouldn't dwell on that since she had a job to do and the sooner that she got this little conversation out of the way, the sooner she could get herself a stiff drink and get the hell out of tiny town. As she approached the front door, Casey wearily pushed the front door open as quietly as she could before hesitantly taking a step across the threshold and waiting to see what would happen. Vampire generally had to be invited into homes if there was an owner but since Damon and Stefan lived here along with a seemingly new house guest, Casey had taken a guess and assumed that she wouldn't need to be invited in and her guess seemed to pay off. Casey felt fine, she didn't feel short of breath or feel like she was being dragged back towards to the door. So everything was good on Casey's part and as she walked into the foyer, she took note of the décor in the boarding house and she had to admit that it reminded her of her Great Aunt Bess' house. But Casey had to remind herself that she had more important things to do than critique people's hideous choice in interior design. As she walked through the boarding house Casey could hear the sound of her pumps clicking against the wooden floor, she probably shouldn't have turned up in her rather expensive shoes that seemed to make a lot of noise but Casey wasn't going to give up her love affair with shoes for nobody not even Klaus or a couple of other vampires. Although Casey couldn't see anyone she was most certain that somebody was home as she could hear voices in the distance and following those voices led Casey to a home library, it was rather quaint with leather chairs and a fire going in the background but Casey was more preoccupied with the occupants of the room; specifically the two males who Casey knew to be Stefan and Damon Salvatore, both of whom were just as good looking as people said. The darker haired of the two was Damon, apparently he was a real interesting character whilst the brother with the brown hair and warm green eyes was the infamous Stefan.

"How goes the day?" Casey warmly began making her rather unwelcomed presence known and straight away three set of eyes turned to her and the Salvatore brothers along with their guest all rose from where they were sitting down. There were these rather blank looks on their face or rather confused looks if Casey was going to be honest as they seemed to be rather taken a back. Seeing their dumbfounded faces did want to make Casey laugh but she held her composure, as this was a serious conversation that she was to be having.

"Who are you?" Damon asked and Casey allowed herself to smile as she took a step forward further into the library and her eyes wondered away from the Salvatore men to their female companion, a woman with short dark brown hair that barely reached her chin and green eyes. She was a pretty enough woman, however that wasn't the reason why Casey was intrigued by the woman, it was rather to do with who she was and the reason why she was on what Casey called Klaus' shit list – which included hand drawn pictures which had been drawn by the man himself. Word had gotten to Klaus that this particular women had popped up in Mystic Falls and was associating herself with the Salvatore brothers, Casey could report that this was true as she knew Klaus would want to do something about her quickly.

"You don't know who I am Damon, you won't know my name but your friend over here has heard of me I believe. I have many a name, some call me The Devil's Best Friend but most know me as The Duchess, isn't that right Rose?" Casey stated addressing the dark haired woman who was known as Rose-Marie, the woman who Klaus held responsible for the previous doppelgänger becoming a vampire and as such he had been hunting them down ever since. Apparently you did not piss off The Big Bad Klaus and expect to get away with it. Casey had only been with Klaus for just over fifty years and even she knew it, although she had a vastly different relationship with Klaus than most vampires did.

"The Duchess…" Rose breathed, the shock as clear as day on her face and Casey couldn't help but grin at the recognition, she always found it nice when someone recognized her. Mostly it was due to her association with Klaus and by that nickname as most of the world believed that Lady Cassandra Cook was dead and had been for a fair while and not the companion to one of the oldest vampires in existence.

"Who?" Damon demanded and Casey couldn't help but notice the look that the elder Salvatore shared with his brother. Casey wasn't offended that they didn't know who they were, her reputation came from word of mouth than anything else really as she was a part of Klaus' inner circle and she didn't usually deal with a lot of people or get involved with any of Klaus' dirty business except for this time. All Casey knew was that a several decades ago people began to refer Klaus' new female friend as The Duchess, no doubt because she was a women and because of the English accent she hadn't attempted to shake off since she had become a vampire. Not to mention no one knew what to call her as whilst Casey was known to be an associate of Klaus' she didn't tend to give out business cards and she wasn't in the habit of generally handing out her name to any old folk.

"The Duchess. That's what everyone refers to Klaus's right hand man–" Rose attempted to explain and the fear was clear as day in her voice.

"Hello Rose, I've heard a lot about you but don't worry I'm not here for you but Klaus does send his deepest regards." Casey warmly replied to reassure the vampire that she hadn't come to collect her or even kill her, no doubt the woman was worried that her time was up and it was time for her to meet her death and catch up to Klaus after being on the run from him for over 500 years. That wasn't why Casey was here, Klaus had much bigger issues on his mind at the moment and that was exactly why Casey was here; to make sure history didn't repeat itself.

"You know Klaus–" Stefan began speaking up for the first time since Casey had entered and Casey couldn't help but blanche. That was quite a scary thought for her to have. From the day that she had been turned into a vampire, Casey had been made abundantly clear that she wouldn't be working with him or for him, she was just going to be his friend. Her friendship with Klaus was pretty much based on the fact that they were both equal regardless of him being an original and her being aristocracy. Things had been like that for fifty six years and things had been working just fine and Casey was going to make sure that things stayed that way. All of this was just a favor to Klaus and nothing else, Klaus had freed her from the restraints of her old life, given Casey the means to escape and become her own person and be free to do whatever she wanted to do with her life so she would do this favor to help him break this curse of his which had been bothering him for the last thousand years.

"Sweetie the man turned me for goodness sake and we play poker twice a month, of course I know the man. But I don't work for him, I don't work for anyone Stefan but like your friend Rose said, I am Klaus' right hand man or rather woman in this case hence why people call me The Duchess but that seems too formal so feel free to call me Casey. After all we have some important business to talk about and I would much prefer if things were a little more informal whilst we had our chat." Casey casually explained as this whole thing could go one of two ways and she was very much hoping that it would go the easy way, although she highly doubted that it would.

"Business?" Stefan questioned.

"There is something here in Mystic Falls, something that you and your brother are very fond of and it happens to be something that Klaus wants, a certain Petrova doppelgänger who I believe is called Elena Gilbert if I'm correct and I do believe I am. Very pretty girl from what I've seen although apparently all the doppelgängers are and I dare say Klaus is looking very forward to meeting her–" Casey began in a rather amused manner and she noticed Damon's eye starting to twitch in annoyance and before she could even finish her sentence, Damon sped towards her but Casey was ready for that and she quickly pulled out an item which she kept concealed on her person and she proceeded to shoot Damon in the knee caps. Damon may be older than Casey but that didn't mean that she wasn't fast or stupid. She knew that there was no way that she could take on the Salvatore brothers all by herself given how much older than her they were. So Casey had brought a little back up with her; a gun. Instantly Damon dropped to the ground wincing in pain and Casey kept her gun leveled at him, although taking a brief second to glance over at Stefan and Rose, as if to warn them not to do anything. "You take another step forward Damon and I will shoot you again and trust me I'd rather not as I'm not as fond of guns as your Americans seems to be but I will use it if I have to. It won't kill you of course but as you can see I've put some bullets inside which will hurt like hell."

"B-Bitch…" Damon stammered and Casey could afford to laugh as she had certainly been called worse before.

"You really don't want to make me mad Damon, as when you sit on the right hand of the most feared Original you tend to have a lot of pull and trust me you don't want to piss me off, not when I have the influence I do. Being on my good side can be the difference between life and death, which is what brings me here in the first place. I have a message from Klaus and I intend to deliver it." Casey said as she was rather disappointed that things had taken a rather sour turn as she had hoped to keep things civil but apparently not. Seemingly the doppelgänger was a very sore point for Damon and no doubt he or Stefan were going to give her up easily.

"What message Casey?: Stefan asked.

"Simple. Stop pissing him off. This whole situation with the doppelgänger will end with the doppelgänger dying regardless of any measures your trying to undertake to stop that from happening but whether the two of you want to die along with the girl is up to you. Klaus isn't a fan of people getting in his way and interrupting his plans as Rose along with the previous doppelgänger both know. Klaus isn't the forget and forgive type and if you continue to get in his way then he will make you pay in more ways than one. He will not let anyone get in his way and he will do whatever it takes to get what he wants and trust me you don't want to be in his way as there's a reason why Klaus is the most feared of all the originals. You seem like reasonable people so understand when I tell you that things will not end well for any of you if you keep trying to fight this. The doppelganger will die…"


	5. Chapter 5

Mystic Falls was starting to grow on Casey. That in itself surprised Casey as she really didn't think that this small town in Virginia would be her cup of tea as it was too picturesque, normal and more importantly too quiet for Casey's liking. But this town wasn't as mundane as it seemed as it was quickly growing on Casey especially when she looked beyond the façade that this town presented to the outside world. This town had a history with the supernatural, Mystic Falls had a long history with vampires, werewolves and witches it seemed plus it was home to Klaus' little golden doppelgänger. For some reason this little town was less Stepford and more Sunnydale, the longer Casey remained in Mystic Falls the more intrigued she was becoming with this little town. It was her kind of weird and she wanted to see things were going to play out and Klaus had been more than encouraging, he was rather amused and had no issue with Casey remaining in Mystic Falls for a little while longer and stirring things up ever so slightly. She didn't do boring so Casey was more than happy to oblige with Klaus' request especially since her presence alone was winding Damon Salvatore up with every passing day. That the fact alone was entertaining Casey as there was something about the elder Salvatore brother that intrigued her, currently she couldn't put her finger on what it was but the fact that Damon was in love with his brother's girlfriend – the infamous Elena made him all the more fascinating. Which brought Casey to the said doppelgänger, which Casey couldn't help but associate with Alice in Wonderland. She was yet to meet the elusive Elena Gilbert but Casey was very much looking forward to that although she knew it was going to be somewhat impossible as the other Salvatore brother Stefan was practically by her side every minute of the day since. But that was okay as since she had become a vampire, Casey had been working on her patience and she was pretty good at it. You had to have some ounce of patience to be friends with Klaus and be able to put up with ever constant and changing moods.

Casey couldn't help but frown as she idly picked at the portion of fries that were sitting in front of her, currently she was at a local eatery known as The Mystic Grill and she was feeling rather lonely. She had been plucked out of her life and come to Mystic Falls at Klaus' request and there was a part of Casey that felt alone as she didn't really know anyone here. Elijah was somewhere in Mystic Falls but they were keeping their distance from each other as it wasn't common knowledge to anyone that they knew each other and that was the way it was going to stay for now. Klaus was very big on big reveals later on down the line and so it would be his decision when everything came out, Casey didn't really mind as she was only doing this as a favour to Klaus. She was not playing a huge part of this whole breaking the curse plan, if anything Casey was around to just be Klaus' friend and his support system when needed. However that didn't mean that Casey didn't occasionally become prone to being lonely, she was away from her home and most of her friends. During this time with her being in Mystic Falls, she didn't really have anyone she could hang out with and it sort of made things a little worse but Casey had to keep reminding herself that she could do this. The loneliness wasn't going to kill her but the boredom was certainly going to be the end of her. Casey was going to have to do something to remedy that and so she picked up her phone and began looking for ways to entertain herself.

"You know if you're going to stand there lurking like some kind of stalker than you might as well sit down. Go on, take a seat and save me from stretching my neck trying to hold a conversation with you Mr. Salvatore." Casey stated as she glanced away from her phone briefly to look up to the infamous Damon Salvatore and motioned for him to join her in the booth. She had been expecting a visit from either one of the Salvatore brothers, it was really just a question of who would be the one to find her and now here Casey was with Damon and he looked very pissed off with her. Casey supposed she couldn't blame him given what she was here for, if the roles were reversed she would be pretty pissed off in someone barged into her house and shot her. Thankfully they weren't and she was more Damon's problem than he was hers.

"What are you up to?" Damon asked as he reluctantly sat down in the booth and Casey couldn't help but laugh as she caught sight of Damon wearily eyeing her up.

"Oh you know, texting a boy and planning world domination. Just my usual Tuesday evening activities…" Casey quipped in amusement as she went back to idly playing with her cellphone. She could tell that Damon wasn't amused by her response as he was pretty much glaring daggers at her, if it wasn't for the fact that they were in a public place Casey was pretty certain that Damon would have already tried to put a stake through her heart. He was a rather interesting character and Casey was becoming all the more fascinated with the elder Salvatore brother as Damon was a hot mess, he was wild and it was clear that he was easily led by his emotions. It was clear to Casey that she had found a new toy to play with and she was very much going to enjoy, yanking Damon's strings.

"Princess, I am not in the mood for your wisecracks today." Damon retorted and his tone of voice suggested to Casey that he was in a very bad mood, clearly he was not ready to forgive her for the whole shooting thing. That was understandable although Damon didn't need to be so uptight about the whole thing. A little small talk wouldn't kill him, Granny Cook always said that manners didn't cost a penny.

"Okay, I'll play ball with you Damon but that's only because I'm in a rather pleasant mood today. So please don't take my goodwill as a sign of my submissiveness as trust me, I don't respond well to demands and Klaus will vouch for that personally. Which brings us back to your question of what I'm up to, I'm here to keep an eye on Klaus' golden goose until the man himself decides to finally make an appearance. Happy? The big man is worried that you and your merry band of misfits might do something to get in his way and so he sent me to make sure things didn't go awry." Casey retorted with a small smirk before taking a swing of the beer that she had sitting right in front of her, as she felt rather pleased with herself. She liked toying with Damon and Casey was pretty certain that this was a result of her spending way too much time with Klaus. Casey never used to be like this prior to be becoming a vampire, it seemed like immortality was corrupting her soul with every passing decade.

"Do you really think that I'll just hand her over to you and Klaus? So you can break this curse of the sun and the moon?"

"Of course not. You are the kind of person who doesn't go down without a fight and I know that because I've been watching you Damon. It's what I do, I watch people and I'm very good at it. I'd be surprised if you easily handed the girl over without a fight as judging from what I've seen you care for her, a lot more than you should. I'm not surprised you in love with your brother's girl considering she looked exactly like the previous doppelganger who I hear, you have a history with. The love affairs that we mortals and us supernatural creatures alike get involved with are not something I personally don't waste much time with. I moved beyond that a long time ago… But I do find it hilarious that your kicking up such a fuss about something you clearly know nothing about. You act brave and put on this huge bravdo but you are clueless as to what is really going on here. I'm not the one whose going to break this curse, I have no real personal interest in breaking it as I can already walk around in the daylight. So don't worry that pretty little head of yours Damon, I won't touch a single hair on the head of Elena. Everyone else however is fair game, I've been given a little leeway in regards to dealing with matters that could threaten Klaus' plans. So you might want to stay on my good side sweetie, as I don't play nice when people piss me off." Casey quipped with a small smile and it was beyond obvious that Damon was becoming more annoyed with her with every passing moment and it currently looked like a vessel in his head was about to burst. This was so entertaining for Casey, she never imagined that she could have this much fun when she first arrived to Mystic Falls. She hated to admit this but Klaus had done the right thing by asking her to come here.

"Is there not a part of you that feels bad for what could happen? That Klaus is willing to kill Elena for the sake of some stupid curse." Damon demanded and Casey frowned momentarily. That was an interesting question.

"The situation sucks I'll admit that but that doesn't change anything here or tug at my emotions. So don't count on me switching sides anytime soon as I don't see good or bad, I just live my life the way I see fit. I embrace my inhibitions and I won't apologies for that, I refuse to for being myself. You want to see me as the bad guy in all of this? Go ahead. But it won't change anything as Klaus would still be coming for your girl, regardless of whether I was here or not. He won't let anything or anyone stop him from achieving his goals. The Big Bad Klaus is dedicated; I have to give him that. I'm not here to harm Elena, I only came to Mystic Falls as a favour to Klaus. So my feelings on this situation doesn't really matter." Casey allowed herself to admit as she continued to idle pick at her fries, she had to admit that there was a bit of her that felt bad about this thing with her and Damon. The two of them could have been friends in another life.

"There is nothing to stop me ripping you limb from limb." Damon growled from across the table and Casey just smirked in bemusement before leaning across the table and squeezing Damon's cheek.

"True, whilst you may be much older than little ole' me Damon, it serves as no advantage to you in this situation. Did you really think that I'm alone? That Klaus wouldn't have others watching over that doppelganger of yours from a distance? I may have been the only one to have made direct contact with you Damon but I am most certainly never alone. I told you that I sit on the right hand of the most feared Original of them all and that makes me pretty damn powerful in my own right. They call me the devil's best friend and Klaus doesn't keep me around because of my pretty face. So surely you don't think that Klaus wouldn't have taken precautions to keep me safe?" Casey questioned, speaking in a slow and deliberate manner for dramatic effect.

"Your bluffing." Damon replied after a moment and Casey cocked her head to the side and diverted her eyes in the direction of the bar and she watched as Damon followed her line of sight.

"Am I? Can you really afford to test that theory when you have so much more to lose than me? I may not be as strong as you are Damon but brute force isn't everything sweetie, haven't you heard? Brains are the new sexy and I'm smarter than you'll ever be."


End file.
